May 29, 2023
May 29, 2023
Dear Mom,
I am thinking about you ALWAYS.........
Here is a letter from Mindy Novis about you. It's so lovely.
ABOUT HELEN:
Telling the story of Dutch Neck School is synonymous with telling the story of Helen Martinson's professional career. Back in 1980, strong economic changes began to attract large numbers of people to the Route 1 corridor close to the towns of West Windsor and Plainsboro in NJ. There was plenty of undeveloped land in West Windsor and Plainsboro, NJ. The area was close to the train station and within commuting distance to NYC and Philadelphia. Huge companies such as huge pharmaceutical companies, scientific labs, Wall Street Journal Headquarters, etc. were built there; so scientists, professors, engineers, stock market people, laborers and tradesmen of all kinds moved into this area as developers quickly purchased the land and built many new homes. The school district began to grow at a rate of at least 400- 500 students a year.
Because of this tremendous population growth that began in 1980, the WW-P School district had to build new school buildings. After a new middle school and upper elementary school were built and opened in 1987 and 1988, the board of education had to select new principals to run these schools. Your mom was chosen. They also had to rearrange the population of children between the new buildings and the two towns in a comfortable and effective manner. This was a challenging time as no parents wanted their children bused to the opposite town and away from their neighborhoods. But Helen, me, other school administrators and our superintendents met with the families to quell their fears about change and once the children were established in their new buildings, the community settled into a comfort zone. Dutch Neck School and Helen sent all 700 students (third, fourth and fifth graders) and ALL the teachers to the new schools and this is when Helen selected me to make Dutch Neck into a primary school of grades K thru 3.
This major redistricting and emptying of DN gave Helen (and me) the opportunity few principals experience in a lifetime….. To create a new school within the walls of an old building and to MAKE WHAT SHE BELIEVED IN HAPPEN. The superintendent and his assistant, gave her the go ahead which meant the FUNDING to hire new teachers, to develop a curriculum that was developmentally appropriate and to create an environment for learning and nurturing young children Helen and I took advantage of this support and lured (maybe even stole) the best teachers with EXPERIENCE from neighboring school districts to come to Dutch Neck.
This is when Helen and I searched not only for the best teachers but also leaders who could help us build our desired atmosphere of collegiality. We outlined our vision of our school publicly and then we sought educators who valued our vision. We also focused on finding men for our primary school. Because of our funding we were able to get Bob Krech, Russ Walsh, Rick Ellis and Phil Meara to join us. We were both proud to say that these guys later became either local superintendent’s, professors or published authors.
This was the time period when Helen and I held weekend end retreat events about twice a year with our teachers at her beach house, our school library, or the neighborhood church so that we became a strong community of learners and a family who believed in the same mission. This is also when we put all the basal reading books in the basement and changed the literacy curriculum so that children were learning to read from real literature.
During this same period is when Helen won a grant from the Geraldine Dodge Foundation (whose headquarters are in NJ) which paid for her attendance at the Harvard Graduate School of Education summer Institute on the “Art and Craft of the Principals ship. Her attendance at this institute was an incredible accomplishment. At this summer program of 10 days, Helen was with some of the most respected authorities in the world regarding effective school leadership. As a result, not only did Helen gain even more effective skills as a principal but she extended her professional network so that not only was she known widely in NJ but in many other US States.
I also believe that her attendance at this institute, her work on Geraldine Dodge Foundation. Her winning the NAESP Distinguished Principal Award in 1993 (National Association of Elementary School Principals and her journey to a PHD in Education from Columbia, opened the door for her to work at Princeton University later in her career. Like she told you, “She rubbed elbows with the right people.”
Helen was always searching for ways to get her school recognized for its accomplishments and in April 1993, Redbook Magazine, chose Dutch Neck as one of the best elementary schools. About 550 elementary schools in the USA applied for recognition by the magazine and 177 schools were chosen. The amount of information that Redbook required was somewhat daunting, but your mom didn’t let that scare her. The major outcome of getting this award had the following effects: parents and school staff were extremely proud of their children’s school and more people moved into the Dutch Neck receiving areas. (I’ve got the article if you ever want to see it.)
Helen also quickly became even more involved in helping support the Geraldine Dodge Foundation and she won another grant from this organization for Dutch Neck in which a group of about 14 teachers got to study portfolio assessment (which was new at the time with professors from Rider University.
One of Helen’s strongest beliefs was in promoting ongoing learning. She constantly set up workshops for parents to help them understand the goals of our approach to authentic teaching and learning. She promoted weekly workshops for teachers given by our own teachers and she loved to personally attend national association conferences in various parts of the US. In fact, she got me involved in giving different all-day workshops at some of the country’s most popular educational conferences. One conference that sticks out the most for me took place in San Francisco. We put together an “Action Lab” we called, “Building a Culture of Excellence.” Lynn fisher, our guidance counselor and friend also participated in this conference. That was such an amazing experience to have our proposal accepted and to speak before other administrators at the annual conference of the Association of Supervision and Development; as a result, we grew more in our knowledge as leaders from the process of doing our research and preparing that presentation.
Helen was a great detail person (I'm sure you know this.) Every project and every activity was done in the most professional and organized manner. (She and I wrote a very well written journal article together and I’d love to share it with you once I figure out how to scan.) I think the teachers thrived in knowing that organizational “things” were taken care of by their administrators so that they could focus on teaching, they knew that the safety and welfare of all the children and the staff was always on the mind of their administrators.
When Helen retired from the West Windsor, Plainsboro School District, she was offered the job of coordinating Princeton University’s program, called “Teachers as Scholars. “ This job was so well matched to her skills. She got Princeton professors to offer mini courses in a huge range of topics over a period of a few weeks to community teachers. (Teachers from various area school districts got to attend once a week with substitutes for their students.) The program got funding from local school districts and from the Woodrow Wilson Foundation. Teachers who got to attend felt honored and appreciated; they loved the program!! This job of Helen’s then flowed into her being offered the Directorship of the Princeton Teacher Education program. (The previous director retired.)
About this program: Princeton University students who were interested in becoming teachers could enter this program which was above and beyond their regular course work. Helen’s focus was to find field placements so that Princeton students could be interns in local school district classrooms. After Princeton students were matched to local teachers, Helen did observations of the university students and gave them feedback as their supervisor She loved this job as it got her back into elementary classrooms where she began her career.
Finally, here’s what else I know about your mom:
She adored her own children!
She loved the NJ shore.
She was a workaholic like me.
She loved children.
She was a great public speaker!
She liked potato chips like me.
She was a great detail person.
She was a gracious and generous person. She had overflowing empathy and kindness.
She had the most beautiful smile and was a beautiful lady.
She was an amazing leader, mentor and educator.
If the USA had more educators like Helen, our country would be number 1 in the world, and we probably would not be suffering through a pandemic!
On and on and on.
I am thinking about you ALWAYS.........
Here is a letter from Mindy Novis about you. It's so lovely.
ABOUT HELEN:
Telling the story of Dutch Neck School is synonymous with telling the story of Helen Martinson's professional career. Back in 1980, strong economic changes began to attract large numbers of people to the Route 1 corridor close to the towns of West Windsor and Plainsboro in NJ. There was plenty of undeveloped land in West Windsor and Plainsboro, NJ. The area was close to the train station and within commuting distance to NYC and Philadelphia. Huge companies such as huge pharmaceutical companies, scientific labs, Wall Street Journal Headquarters, etc. were built there; so scientists, professors, engineers, stock market people, laborers and tradesmen of all kinds moved into this area as developers quickly purchased the land and built many new homes. The school district began to grow at a rate of at least 400- 500 students a year.
Because of this tremendous population growth that began in 1980, the WW-P School district had to build new school buildings. After a new middle school and upper elementary school were built and opened in 1987 and 1988, the board of education had to select new principals to run these schools. Your mom was chosen. They also had to rearrange the population of children between the new buildings and the two towns in a comfortable and effective manner. This was a challenging time as no parents wanted their children bused to the opposite town and away from their neighborhoods. But Helen, me, other school administrators and our superintendents met with the families to quell their fears about change and once the children were established in their new buildings, the community settled into a comfort zone. Dutch Neck School and Helen sent all 700 students (third, fourth and fifth graders) and ALL the teachers to the new schools and this is when Helen selected me to make Dutch Neck into a primary school of grades K thru 3.
This major redistricting and emptying of DN gave Helen (and me) the opportunity few principals experience in a lifetime….. To create a new school within the walls of an old building and to MAKE WHAT SHE BELIEVED IN HAPPEN. The superintendent and his assistant, gave her the go ahead which meant the FUNDING to hire new teachers, to develop a curriculum that was developmentally appropriate and to create an environment for learning and nurturing young children Helen and I took advantage of this support and lured (maybe even stole) the best teachers with EXPERIENCE from neighboring school districts to come to Dutch Neck.
This is when Helen and I searched not only for the best teachers but also leaders who could help us build our desired atmosphere of collegiality. We outlined our vision of our school publicly and then we sought educators who valued our vision. We also focused on finding men for our primary school. Because of our funding we were able to get Bob Krech, Russ Walsh, Rick Ellis and Phil Meara to join us. We were both proud to say that these guys later became either local superintendent’s, professors or published authors.
This was the time period when Helen and I held weekend end retreat events about twice a year with our teachers at her beach house, our school library, or the neighborhood church so that we became a strong community of learners and a family who believed in the same mission. This is also when we put all the basal reading books in the basement and changed the literacy curriculum so that children were learning to read from real literature.
During this same period is when Helen won a grant from the Geraldine Dodge Foundation (whose headquarters are in NJ) which paid for her attendance at the Harvard Graduate School of Education summer Institute on the “Art and Craft of the Principals ship. Her attendance at this institute was an incredible accomplishment. At this summer program of 10 days, Helen was with some of the most respected authorities in the world regarding effective school leadership. As a result, not only did Helen gain even more effective skills as a principal but she extended her professional network so that not only was she known widely in NJ but in many other US States.
I also believe that her attendance at this institute, her work on Geraldine Dodge Foundation. Her winning the NAESP Distinguished Principal Award in 1993 (National Association of Elementary School Principals and her journey to a PHD in Education from Columbia, opened the door for her to work at Princeton University later in her career. Like she told you, “She rubbed elbows with the right people.”
Helen was always searching for ways to get her school recognized for its accomplishments and in April 1993, Redbook Magazine, chose Dutch Neck as one of the best elementary schools. About 550 elementary schools in the USA applied for recognition by the magazine and 177 schools were chosen. The amount of information that Redbook required was somewhat daunting, but your mom didn’t let that scare her. The major outcome of getting this award had the following effects: parents and school staff were extremely proud of their children’s school and more people moved into the Dutch Neck receiving areas. (I’ve got the article if you ever want to see it.)
Helen also quickly became even more involved in helping support the Geraldine Dodge Foundation and she won another grant from this organization for Dutch Neck in which a group of about 14 teachers got to study portfolio assessment (which was new at the time with professors from Rider University.
One of Helen’s strongest beliefs was in promoting ongoing learning. She constantly set up workshops for parents to help them understand the goals of our approach to authentic teaching and learning. She promoted weekly workshops for teachers given by our own teachers and she loved to personally attend national association conferences in various parts of the US. In fact, she got me involved in giving different all-day workshops at some of the country’s most popular educational conferences. One conference that sticks out the most for me took place in San Francisco. We put together an “Action Lab” we called, “Building a Culture of Excellence.” Lynn fisher, our guidance counselor and friend also participated in this conference. That was such an amazing experience to have our proposal accepted and to speak before other administrators at the annual conference of the Association of Supervision and Development; as a result, we grew more in our knowledge as leaders from the process of doing our research and preparing that presentation.
Helen was a great detail person (I'm sure you know this.) Every project and every activity was done in the most professional and organized manner. (She and I wrote a very well written journal article together and I’d love to share it with you once I figure out how to scan.) I think the teachers thrived in knowing that organizational “things” were taken care of by their administrators so that they could focus on teaching, they knew that the safety and welfare of all the children and the staff was always on the mind of their administrators.
When Helen retired from the West Windsor, Plainsboro School District, she was offered the job of coordinating Princeton University’s program, called “Teachers as Scholars. “ This job was so well matched to her skills. She got Princeton professors to offer mini courses in a huge range of topics over a period of a few weeks to community teachers. (Teachers from various area school districts got to attend once a week with substitutes for their students.) The program got funding from local school districts and from the Woodrow Wilson Foundation. Teachers who got to attend felt honored and appreciated; they loved the program!! This job of Helen’s then flowed into her being offered the Directorship of the Princeton Teacher Education program. (The previous director retired.)
About this program: Princeton University students who were interested in becoming teachers could enter this program which was above and beyond their regular course work. Helen’s focus was to find field placements so that Princeton students could be interns in local school district classrooms. After Princeton students were matched to local teachers, Helen did observations of the university students and gave them feedback as their supervisor She loved this job as it got her back into elementary classrooms where she began her career.
Finally, here’s what else I know about your mom:
She adored her own children!
She loved the NJ shore.
She was a workaholic like me.
She loved children.
She was a great public speaker!
She liked potato chips like me.
She was a great detail person.
She was a gracious and generous person. She had overflowing empathy and kindness.
She had the most beautiful smile and was a beautiful lady.
She was an amazing leader, mentor and educator.
If the USA had more educators like Helen, our country would be number 1 in the world, and we probably would not be suffering through a pandemic!
On and on and on.
